Brain spaghetti (free Palestine 🍉)

So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”

Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.

There needs to be more attention on the fact that tumblr's staff is actively targeting Palestinians in Gaza and deleting their blogs. Please care about them! It is an enormous injustice that they are targeting some of the most vulnerable people in the world. There needs to be more visibility on this act of racist aggression towards Palestinians from tumblr staff.

They have deleted the blogs of Ahmed, Fadel, Mahrah and Mahmoud, and Nader, all in the past week. At time of writing:

Ahmed's blog [ahmedaldani333] was deleted. He moved to [ahmedaldanigg]. That was deleted. He's been too scared to make a new blog yet because tumblr has been targeting him.

Fadel's blog [fadel-dani] was deleted. He moved to [fadell-aldany]. As far as I am aware, his former blog was later reinstated and both are active.

Mahrah and Mahmoud's blog [mahrahpalestine] was deleted. They moved to [palestinian95]

Nader's blog [abdalsalam2000] was deleted. He moved to [abdalsalam-2000]

I feel like a lot of people don’t even realise how hard it is to acquire aid when you have a disability or mental illness. The effort to deal with the complications of your condition and all the ways it affects simply leaving the house for a half hour appointment, especially when you don’t have a large support system, is a lot.

I ended up getting a taxi to the doctors bc it would be too much physical strain on me and my support to walk there, its also boiling in the uk rn, and brightness overwhelms me. And if it weren’t for my wonderful partner supporting me and gently guiding me, i would have likely been trapped in an anxiety spiral. Not only that but i had only 2 hours sleep prior.

I haven’t felt able to work normally for maybe 3 years now and the whole time its been a ridiculous struggle to be in contact with doctors, not because the process is necessarily that complicated, but that was just the situation and my capabilities at the time.

I’m trying hard to feel silly for how long it took to get to this point, or how this doesn’t seem like that big of a milestone, because for me, it is a big milestone. I survived in a place where everyone in my life but one person, hasn’t even noticed my state, slowly sliding through the cracks of society like a phone lost between car seats. And i personally didn’t enjoy it. And i’ve got a lot more of this shitshow left to go through.

I have more nerve racking appointments and i have to retry therapy despite how poorly that went last time, and i have to enter the job market and get better at my health. And I’m gonna find it so hard.

I got to ask her about that rebuttal years later at a book signing event for her newer One and Only series. She laughed and said that her publisher had no idea she would say that, and if they knew they probably would not have let her do so. But she genuinely meant what she said and was proud it left an impression that lasted 20+ years.

My best friend of 3 years has some weird gender stuff, homophobic parents, and fucked up legs, additionally they have a soft square-ish face, prominent front teeth, and monolids. Another dear friend of mine has arthritis in her knee and a thin-but-big nose, as well as perfectly crooked teeth and long textured hair she changes everyday to match her current outfit. There's a trans guy at my local theater (that I work part time at) who still likes dressing up glamorously and isn't scared of being too feminine because he's confident in his own gender identity and also has arthritis in his hands. My dad went undiagnosed with auDHD until my own diagnosis and he has a ton of moles he affectionately calls elephants. A coworker has medium support needs autism, bushy brows, and acne scars, she also named herself after her favorite animal and stims happily in public (something I still cant bring myself to do out of shame). I myself struggle with skin picking and have a scar on my cheek which basically looks like a blob of skin where acne and blackheads group around.

Disability representation!!

I was lazy and used old drawings for this

Your perspectives matter. Your representation matters. You are not bothersome for demanding equal treatment in fandom. It is not your responsibility to make fandom more welcoming and inclusive to you. It is not your sole responsibility to create all of the Black-centered content. You are not "ruining" anyone's fun for demanding better for yourself, and anyone who says otherwise can go fuck themselves. Any fandom worth being a part of should have no room for racism in it.

Black people in fandom, you are wanted. You are needed. You are loved and appreciated. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.